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Rogie Vachon’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame was a long time coming.

Vachon had been passed over by voters since his retirement from the game in 1982, a remarkable 34-year wait.

“It took quite a long time,” said the colourful goalie, who made his NHL debut in 1966. “After a while, I completely forgot about it. I figured it was not going to happen. I figured, let’s move on and forget about it.

“Then all of a sudden I got a call, and it sure changes your life.”

While he’s happy to have had so many well-wishers and media requests, the call to the hall may not have come soon enough. It came in June, just a few months after the February death of his wife Nicole.

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“That’s the only regret that I have,” said Vachon, “that she’s not going to be here for the big event. She was so supportive over the years. Good games, bad games, she was there the whole time for me.

“We spent 45 years together. It’s something. I wish it could have happened two years ago, so we could enjoy it together. Certain things in life you can’t control, and that’s one of them.”

Vachon will be inducted Monday along with Eric Lindros, Sergei Makarov and the late Pat Quinn. It’s a year in which the hall appears to be righting some wrongs as far as overlooked greats.

A product of Montreal’s storied goaltending machine, Vachon was in net for the Canadiens when Toronto won its last Stanley Cup in 1967. Leafs coach Punch Imlach famously called him a “Junior B” goalie.

Vachon went on to win the Cup in 1968 and 1969, but lost his job to rookie Ken Dryden in the 1971 playoffs and was ultimately traded to Los Angeles for the prime of his career.

“It was definitely a culture shock,” said Vachon. “Coming out of three Cups in five years, I go to L.A. and our team was not very good. We were pretty bad. I missed most of the first season in L.A. (knee injury). There were not that many people coming to the games. Nobody really cared.

“But when management hired Bob Pulford as a coach, he came in with a new system. Then we started to be very respectable in the mid-1970s.”

The 1974-75 Kings still own the franchise record for points, 105.

“When I came from Detroit, there was no doubt he was The Guy on that team,” says Vachon’s friend and long-time teammate Marcel Dionne. “I enjoyed playing with him and against him.

“In those days, there were no goalie instructors. As soon as you came down the wing, you took a shot. He was always asking me in practice to do that. The other guys couldn’t hit the net. If I couldn’t score on him, that was a good sign. He played the angles pretty good. He was a very committed guy, played with a lot of passion.

“The fact he came from Montreal helped. He knew what a winner was.”

Vachon’s crowning moment may well have been the 1976 Canada Cup. He played every game for Canada — six wins and one loss with two shutouts and a 1.39 goals against average — and was named team MVP. His 355 career wins stood fifth on the all-time list when he retired, 19th today.

The NHL has changed since Vachon’s last game as a Boston Bruin in 1982. At just five-foot-eight, he might never have seen the light of day in league that wants its goalies well over six feet.

“It’s a completely different game for goaltending,” says Vachon. “We used to look for the opening and see where the puck was coming from, and then we would react to the puck. Now, the goalies are so big and the equipment is so bulky that they don’t have to go find the puck. They just stand there in position and do the splits, and cover as much as possible without even trying to find the puck sometimes — and it works. The goalies are so big and strong. It’s incredible.”

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